¹ In those^◦ days there was no king in Israel; and in those^◦ days the tribe^◦ of the Danites sought for itself an inheritance in which to dwell; for even·​·to that^◦ day an inheritance had not fallen to it in the midst of the tribes^◦ of Israel.

² And the sons of Dan sent from their family five men^◦ from their borders^*, men^◦ that were sons of valor, from Zorah and from Eshtaol to spy·​·out the land, and to search· her ·out; and they said to^▵ them, Go, search·​·out the land; and they came to Mount Ephraim, to^◦ the house of Micah, and passed·​·the·​·night there.

³ They^◦ were by the house of Micah and they^◦ recognized the voice of the lad, the Levite; and they turned·​·aside there, and said unto him, Who brought· thee ·in hither? and what doest thou^◦ in this place? and what hast^◦ thou here?

⁴ And he said to^▵ them, As thus and as this is Micah doing with me, and he hired me and I am to him for a priest.

⁵ And they said unto him, Ask, we pray^◦ thee, of God, that we may·​·know, whether our way which we^◦ go^◦ shall prosper.

⁶ And the priest said unto them, Go in peace; before Jehovah is your way in which^◦ you Go.

⁷ And the five men^◦ went and came to Laish, and saw the people that were therein, dwelling securely as the judgment of the Zidonians, quiet and secure; and there was none possessing any thing restraining in the land to humiliate them; and they^◦ were far from the Zidonians, and they had^◦ no thing with man.

⁸ And they came to^▵ their brothers to Zorah and Eshtaol, and their brothers said unto them, What have you^◦?

⁹ And they said, Arise and let us go·​·up against them; for we have seen the land, and behold it is very good: and are· you^◦ ·silent^◦? Be not slothful to go, to come·​·in to possess the land.

¹⁰ When^◦ you come, you shall come to^▵ a people who are·​·secure, and to a land broad in spaces; for God has given her into your hand; a place where^▵ there is no want of any thing that is in the earth.

¹¹ And there journeyed thence of the family of the Danites, from Zorah and from Eshtaol, six hundred men^◦ girded with weapons^◦ of war.

¹² And they went·​·up and encamped in Kiriath-jearim, in Judah; therefore they called that^◦ place Machaneh-dan until this day; behold it is behind Kiriath-jearim.

¹³ And they passed thence unto Mount Ephraim, and came even·​·to the house of Micah.

¹⁴ And the five men^◦, who went^◦ to spy·​·out the land of Laish, answered and said to^▵ their brothers, Do you^◦ know that there·​·is in these houses an ephod and teraphim, and a carved image and a molten image? And now know what you will do.

¹⁵ And they turned·​·aside thither, and came to^▵ the house of the lad, the Levite, the house of Micah, and asked him for peace.

¹⁶ And the six hundred men^◦, girded with their arms of war, stood·​·up by the entrance of the gate; they were from the sons of Dan.

¹⁷ And the five men^◦ going^◦ to spy·​·out the land went·​·up, and came·​·in thither; they took the carved image and the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image: and the priest stood·​·up at the entrance of the gate, and the six hundred men^◦ girded with the weapons^◦ of war.

¹⁸ And these came·​·into the house of Micah, and took the carved image, the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image. And the priest said to^▵ them, What are you^◦ doing?

¹⁹ And they said to him, Be·​·silent; set thy hand upon thy mouth, and go with us, and be to us for a father and for a priest; is^▵ it better for thee to be a priest for the house of one man^◦, or that thou be a priest for a tribe^◦ and a family in Israel?

²⁰ And in the heart of the priest it was·​·good, and he took the ephod, and the teraphim, and the carved image, and came into the midst^◦ of the people.

²¹ And they turned^◦ and went, and they set the infant and the livestock and what was heavy before them.

²² When they^◦ were far from the house of Micah, the men^◦ who were in the houses which were by the house of Micah, were called·​·up, and stuck close to the sons of Dan.

²³ And they called to^▵ the sons of Dan. And they turned· their faces ·around, and said unto Micah, What ails thee, that thou hast been called·​·up?

²⁴ And he said, The gods which I made, you have taken, and the priest; and you are gone; and what have I more^◦? And what is this that you say unto^▵ me, What hast thou?

²⁵ And the sons of Dan said unto^▵ him, Let not thy voice be heard with us, lest men^◦ bitter of soul fall on^◦ thee and thou gather thy soul and the soul of thy house.

²⁶ And the sons of Dan went their way; and Micah saw that they^◦ were too strong for him, and he turned^◦ and returned unto^▵ his house.

²⁷ And they^◦ took what Micah had made, and the priest whom he had, and came unto Laish, unto a people quiet and secure; and they smote them with the mouth of the sword, and burnt·​·up the city with fire.

²⁸ And there was no rescuer, because^◦ it^◦ was far from Zidon, and they had no word with any man; and it^◦ was in the valley which is by Beth-rehob; and they built the city and dwelt there.

²⁹ And they called the name of the city, Dan, by the name of Dan, their father, who was·​·born to Israel; nevertheless the name of the city was Laish at the first.

³⁰ And the sons of Dan raised·​·up for themselves the graven image; and Jehonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, he^◦ and his sons were priests to the tribe^◦ of the Danite until the day of the exile of the land.

³¹ And they set up for themselves the graven image of Micah, which he made, all the days that the house of God was in Shiloh.

¹ The two angels came to Sodom at evening. Lot sat in the gate of Sodom. Lot saw them, and rose up to meet them. He bowed himself with his face to the earth,

² and he said, "See now, my lords, please turn aside into your servant's house, stay all night, wash your feet, and you can rise up early, and go on your way." They said, "No, but we will stay in the street all night."

³ He urged them greatly, and they came in with him, and entered into his house. He made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.

⁴ But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from every quarter.

⁵ They called to Lot, and said to him, "Where are the men who came in to you this night? Bring them out to us, that we may have sex with them."

⁶ Lot went out to them to the door, and shut the door after him.

⁷ He said, "Please, my brothers, don't act so wickedly.

⁸ See now, I have two virgin daughters. Please let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them what seems good to you. Only don't do anything to these men, because they have come under the shadow of my roof."

⁹ They said, "Stand back!" Then they said, "This one fellow came in to live as a foreigner, and he appoints himself a judge. Now will we deal worse with you, than with them!" They pressed hard on the man Lot, and drew near to break the door.

¹⁰ But the men put forth their hand, and brought Lot into the house to them, and shut the door.

¹¹ They struck the men who were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves to find the door.

¹² The men said to Lot, "Do you have anybody else here? Sons-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and whoever you have in the city, bring them out of the place:

¹³ for we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown great before Yahweh that Yahweh has sent us to destroy it."

¹⁴ Lot went out, and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters, and said, "Get up! Get out of this place, for Yahweh will destroy the city." But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be joking.

¹⁵ When the morning came, then the angels hurried Lot, saying, "Get up! Take your wife, and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the iniquity of the city."

¹⁶ But he lingered; and the men grabbed his hand, his wife's hand, and his two daughters' hands, Yahweh being merciful to him; and they took him out, and set him outside of the city.

¹⁷ It came to pass, when they had taken them out, that he said, "Escape for your life! Don't look behind you, and don't stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be consumed!"

¹⁸ Lot said to them, "Oh, not so, my lord.

¹⁹ See now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your loving kindness, which you have shown to me in saving my life. I can't escape to the mountain, lest evil overtake me, and I die.

²⁰ See now, this city is near to flee to, and it is a little one. Oh let me escape there (isn't it a little one?), and my soul will live."

²¹ He said to him, "Behold, I have granted your request concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken.

²² Hurry, escape there, for I can't do anything until you get there." Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.

²³ The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar.

²⁴ Then Yahweh rained on Sodom and on Gomorrah sulfur and fire from Yahweh out of the sky.

²⁵ He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew on the ground.

²⁶ But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

²⁷ Abraham got up early in the morning to the place where he had stood before Yahweh.

²⁸ He looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and looked, and saw that the smoke of the land went up as the smoke of a furnace.

²⁹ It happened, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the middle of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot lived.

³⁰ Lot went up out of Zoar, and lived in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he was afraid to live in Zoar. He lived in a cave with his two daughters.

³¹ The firstborn said to the younger, "Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in to us in the way of all the earth.

³² Come, let's make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve our father's seed."

³³ They made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father. He didn't know when she lay down, nor when she arose.

³⁴ It came to pass on the next day, that the firstborn said to the younger, "Behold, I lay last night with my father. Let us make him drink wine again, tonight. You go in, and lie with him, that we may preserve our father's seed."

³⁵ They made their father drink wine that night also. The younger went and lay with him. He didn't know when she lay down, nor when she got up.

³⁶ Thus both of Lot's daughters were with child by their father.

³⁷ The firstborn bore a son, and named him Moab. He is the father of the Moabites to this day.

³⁸ The younger also bore a son, and called his name Ben Ammi. He is the father of the children of Ammon to this day.